I recall in the early eighties a batch of Tiger Moths were bought and returned to the UK by a Company called Arrow Air Services I think it was at Shipdham. The whole thing went quiet and I heard most if not all were never rebuilt and subsequently the whole lot went to South Africa.
Can some one please put some detail on the story as to why they were never rebuilt if that was the intention and was there not the interest in the UK to take over the project. Many thanks
By: The Blue Max - 6th June 2009 at 22:31
From memory alot of it was not much good, we spent hrs going through side fames to get a pair that could be used!! I also belive the CAA had an issue with the wings, somthing to do with moisture content of wing spars:eek:
By: Willip26 - 5th June 2009 at 23:34
There was a huge amount of Tiger Moth stuff contained not only in the hangar at Shipdham but also in a lorry trailer outside, sadly some the parts had deteriorated beyond economical use. If I remember correctly the whole lot was sold to a collector in Sussex during 1995-96 when the Tiger store was dismantled to make room for more hangarage. I spoke to Nigel Wright, who ran Arrow Air Services, over several pints of Guiness about the Tigers. He cited the lack of paperwork and CAA bureacracy as the reason he never built up any further airframes after G-BINH the yellow and black Tiger which crashed at Swanton Morley in 1981. As for where the cache is now I don’t know, perhaps it’s still in deepest darkest Sussex.
Yes, I believe they were once stored at Jim Pearce’s strip up on the Downs, but as stated in Lion Rock’s initial post, the whole lot were subsequently sold on to a buyer in South Africa.
Wicked Willip :diablo:
By: G-ASSV - 3rd June 2009 at 17:01
There was a huge amount of Tiger Moth stuff contained not only in the hangar at Shipdham but also in a lorry trailer outside, sadly some the parts had deteriorated beyond economical use. If I remember correctly the whole lot was sold to a collector in Sussex during 1995-96 when the Tiger store was dismantled to make room for more hangarage. I spoke to Nigel Wright, who ran Arrow Air Services, over several pints of Guiness about the Tigers. He cited the lack of paperwork and CAA bureacracy as the reason he never built up any further airframes after G-BINH the yellow and black Tiger which crashed at Swanton Morley in 1981. As for where the cache is now I don’t know, perhaps it’s still in deepest darkest Sussex.
By: WJ244 - 3rd June 2009 at 16:35
One was rebuilt (G_BINH) and crashed very soon after completion. According to G-INFO it was registered 7-2-81 and crashed 13-4-81 and I am pretty sure it was deemed beyond rebuild. I have some photos somewhere which I took at Shipdam. I will post them if/when I find them.
I also had most of the fabric complete with registration from one of them that came from Stephen Rudge (now head of LAAS) who wrote to Arrow Air Services after our visit to ask about buying a section of fabric including the registration letters and was a bit surprised when the postman delivered a large cardboard tube withe fabric rolled up inside.
I passed the fabric ion to Arthur Moreton at the North Weald Museum around 10 years ago as I no longer had room to keep it.
By: cestrian - 3rd June 2009 at 12:31
I believe one (G-BHUM ex VT-DGA) was rebuilt to fly but the rest were stored for several years. Here is a photo I took at Shipdam in 1987.
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June 3, 2009 at 7:48 am